Jun 1, 2010

Some of our neighbours down the street have been landscaping, and as part of this somehow they dug up some dirty chunks of wood. I have no idea what they were part of, but they gladly gave them to us rather than take them to the dump. The kids helped us pile them in the car and we drove them up the street and hosed and scrubbed the mud off. Here they are all scrubbed clean.They are in poor shape, but still really interesting, especially the ring patterns that have kind of weathered to be really prominent and will probably be great for crayon rubbings!Once they had dried out fully the kids had a go at them with the sander. This was their first time with an electric sander and they really liked it!I've just noticed that in this picture above it looks like I must be doing some strange contortion to have my other leg around the back of my neck or something. Don't worry, it's just my shoe was sat on the picnic bench ;) (I should have just let you think I was that bendy)

Then the kids had at the blocks with a load of kiddy paint in yoghurt pots and some big brushes. They kept at this for a good long time, especially my four year old.I'm hoping that the neighbours chuck out more lumber as they keep landscaping, because the bigger the collection of building parts, the more exciting projects the kids can come up with.I don't really have any set ideas of what to do with these blocks. So far the kids have built towers and stepping stones and bridges with a couple of other bits of wood we have.

Sometimes the free section of craigslist calls out to me. It's a good job we don't have a truck, or I'd be trying to grab all the wooden furniture from the curbsides around here!

41 comments:

Hi. we dont usually get so much wood, but I like the stuff that you have been doing. Its great inspiration. Just got around to doing some magnetic chutes for my kids to explore. You may want to take a peek

Now why hadn't I thought of that! These would be absolutely perfect for outside at preschool and I can see the kids using them in many different ways. I love them when they are painted - thanks for sharing :)

This is such a brilliant idea and the children take ownership and develop a good sense of agency with the blocks. We have successfully completed this idea at our centre but didn't paint the blocks. The children did love sanding them back with sandpaper and rubbing almond oil into them....it's great that you're able to share your stories of success with us! :)

I LOVE it! I am hoping putting your blog in my RSS feed thing will get me busier making neat things for my kids! I have been slacking this past year with that. Oh and I feel the same about the pickup truck.

Thanks for all your ideas - they are great fun!I know I'm a worry-wart, but you may want to make sure it's not pressure-treated wood or old railroad ties, both have nasty chemicals in them to keep the wood from rotting and to kill any wood-boring insects. Kids touching or breathing in the sanding dust from such wood is not good. Normal lumber for building a house, like pine 2x4 is untreated and thus safer.

Thanks for the heads up Becca. These looked looked like they were redwood used in house construction at some point. Not the right dimensions for cut up railroad ties. I'm thinking it's unlikely that they were pressure treated, because they were pretty rotten in places, especially the ends that were buried. I only figured out about the chemicals in pressure treated wood a few weeks ago, because I was looking into what I could use/reclaim to make raised planters in the garden. Still waiting to find some cheap/free leftover lumber on Craigslist for that :)

I know I'm repeating others a lot here - but these are so cool. I saw some things called tree-cakes on a blog somewhere (wish I could remember where?) which were basically a lopped tree-trunk sliced into pieces of a few centimetres. Similar idea as yours - great for tower building. I've been on the lookout for a lopper working in the neighbourhood ever since.

Oh my goodness...how WONDERFUL!!!!Now my eyes are going to be on the look out for giant pieces of wood to turn into blocks...how fun are those!!! Brilliant idea!!!!(insert round of applause for wonderful creative mammas)!!!!thank you for inspiring and delightingMaureen

And disregard the part in the email I just sent you about Teacher Tom and his wooden snake thing. I just found the link to it through the other comments. So cool! I'm going to have to ponder that and put it to use somehow with the log blocks I made for our kids.

What a fantastic idea. I love it when moms are inspired to make toys for their kids! I can't wait for my little one to be old enough to use power tools to help me make toys. I heard redwood dust might be toxic to inhale even if it is untreated. I plan on making tree limb blocks next month and we used large tree trunks to create all kinds of play structures in our yard. Do you have a local FreeCycle. That is where I get my best stuff So glad I stopped by. Please visit my blog and check out my "projects"

I like that you had no idea what to do with the blocks. GREAT! That gave the kids the freedom to think up some possibilities, which I see were many. It's so cool for kids to work with materials other than just paper paper paper. Nice job!` MaryAnn Kohl, art authorMy new blog:http://maryannfkohl.typepad.com/blog/

Hi! You've got a great blog here and I love this idea. I host a toddler link up party every tuesday called Tot Tuesdays. Would love it if you'd stop by and link up this idea along with the many other great ideas you have for toddlers. Have a great day!http://www.mydeliciousambiguity.com/

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